Sweet and Salty Guinness Chocolate Pie with Beer Marshmallow Meringue

Sweet and Salty Guinness Chocolate Pie with Beer Marshmallow Meringue

I'm a huge fan of Guinness in desserts, so when St. Patrick's day rolls around I try to find new ways to incorporate it into my baking. This year I've made an old recipe new again! Ever since I first tasted Guinness Chocolate Pudding, I thought it would be delicious as a pie filling. It just took a few little tweaks to make it sturdy enough to slice. I paired it with my own recipe for sweet-and-salty pretzel crust and topped it with a Guinness flavored marshmallow meringue. So, let's recap.

This recipe makes two pies. Show kindness to others. Give a pie. ♥3/19 - Notations have been added to this recipe.Sweet and Salty Guinness Chocolate Pie with Beer Marshmallow Meringue
Yield: 2 pies [click for printable recipe]

Pour 1 cup of Guinness in a heavy-bottomed 3-quart saucepan (reserve the rest for later use - no drinky!). Add heavy cream and whisk to combine. Set over medium-high heat and cook until very hot but not boiling. Remove from heat and whisk in chocolate. When chocolate has melted, whisk in the egg mixture in a very thin stream as to not scramble the egg. Whisk in cornstarch and return to heat source. Whisk over medium heat until thickened.

Divide mixture between pie pans. Use a rubber spatula to effectively remove all the pudding from the saucepan; quickly smooth the chocolate into the crust. Refrigerate while making the marshmallow topping.

Beer marshmallow topping:Edit: 3/19 -Note: This marshmallow meringue is really gooey and not your average dry, fluffy meringue. It's more like melted marshmallow fluff. Edit: 1/23/13 - A few people who have made this say that they had bunches of meringue left over. If you're not a big fan of meringue or have shallow pie pans, then you may want to reduce the amount by 1/4 to 1/2.
Place the remaining Guinness in a small saucepan over medium heat and cook until reduced to 3 tablespoons.

Whisk sugar, egg whites, water and salt together in a large metal bowl. Set bowl over a simmering pan of water; whisk constantly until sugar dissolves and mixture is hot to the touch. Remove bowl from simmering saucepan and stir in marshmallows pieces. Let stand for 3-5 minutes until marshmallow pieces have softened. Return bowl to simmering water and beat together using a hand-held mixer. Beat for several minutes until mixture thickens. Remove bowl from simmering water and add beer reduction. Continue to beat mixture until it has cooled slightly.

Preheat oven to broil.

Divide mixture between two pie pans and place under broiler in oven. Watch constantly - it's easy for the marshmallow to burn! Remove from oven when nice and toasty.

Refrigerate pies until well set - about 3-4 hours. Edit: 3/19 -this is important! This helps the meringue to solidify

Note: Use a warm knife (dipped in hot water then wiped dry) to achieve cleanly cut slices of pie. That marshmallow topping is sticky!

sweet sarah woman!this is just heavenly.i just saw a recipe (over at kevin's blog) for chocolate pudding with the Guinness.did it take long for the beer to reduce down? does it get thicker as it reduces? i've never reduced beer before, but now want too

I'm not a beer person, but imagining a thick and creamy dark guiness whisked into a luscious velvety chocolate, I think I'll get with the program. I adore sweet and salty and can't wait to try this crust!

Seriously the best idea ever! I saw this last night and got super excited about the pretzel crust that I didn't even realize it was beer meringue! Guuuuuurl, you've got mad skillz and this is the pie of my dreams.

Is the marshmallow meringue supposed to LOOK like meringue before you put it in the fridge? Or is it liquid? You say to cook it until it thickens and then beat until slightly cooled, so I'm wondering how it looks before you broil it.

It will not be fluffy like normal meringue, rather, it will be thick and gooey and pourable. It will flatten out over the pie. I swirled the top with an off-set spatula just before I stuck it under the broiler.

So I made your pie yesterday and could not get the marshmallow to thicken like your picture. How long did you have to mix it to make it thick? I tried it twice and was so bummed! Everyone said it tasted great but it definitely didn't look right. Any tips?

I just tried this today (had to!) and the chocolate pudding thickened up nicely, but as I was still whisking it the beer separated--so when I poured it into the crust the beer was liquid on top. Did I heat it too long?

These are my husband's two favorite things (Guinness & pretzels) and today is his birthday. He's going to love it. I really enjoyed the taste of the topping; I have to work on the appearance - it was not near as fluffy.

Hi Heather! I love this recipe and just tried it out last night...unfortunately the filling didn't set and is soupy. How long did you whisk over heat to get it to thicken, and what type of consistency should it be when you pour it into the crust? I definitely want to try it again, and hope I get better results next time!

My husband was away with the Navy this week and I wanted to make something special for his return (along with dinner with the in-laws!), so I thought I'd try it out! He texted me saying he might not get off the boat until the next day and I replied, "You'd better! I made a pie with your two favorite ingredients!" He said, "Beer and chocolate? LOL" I was laughing my head off because he was right! And everybody loved it! Great recipe.

I made this as cupcakes and it turned out great, like little single-serve pies. Each cup got their own pretzel on top. It made 24 cups total (2 standard pans full). With how rich it is, I can't imagine eating a regular pie slice, so these were perfect.

Heather, are these minor friendly? Will the alcohol cook out? Or maybe I should stay on the safe side and say adults only when I serve it. I wanted to make this for Christmas. I am also making a cheesecake but I feel bad not having chocolate for the kids. ;)

I made this last night and it is sooooo yummy!!!! A couple comments/tips:

1) I also could not get my meringue to "set up", even after it's been in the fridge overnight. Still a gooey (albeit delicious!!!) mess. I wonder if it could've helped to add more egg whites to help stiffen it out a little more?

2) The broiling made this REALLY beautiful/crunchy crust on the top of the pie, which was still there after about 2.5 hrs in the fridge and tasted like a delicious burnt marshmallow (oops! couldn't wait long enough to try it myself!). But, when a friend came over to eat some (around 5 hrs in the fridge at this point) the nice crust on top had turned into a sad layer that I'll compare to the "crust" that can form on the top of pudding....like a super sticky, uncuttable layer. I think if I had to do this over, I'd pour in the meringue and throw it in the fridge right away....skipping the broiling step until just before it's served.

Thanks a million for the recipe! The different layers are great by themselves and even better as a whole pie!

I attempted to bake this today, everything went great until I stuck it in the broiler. everything was fine for ~2 minutes, but then my pie spontaneously combusted, before it had even begun to brown! Be careful broiling this, you may want to put it in the fridge to let the meringue set before broiling!